In contrast, Gateshead Council used debt collectors on just four occasions - and this low figure represented a 100% drop on two years ago.

They are used to collect debts on things council tax, parking fines and commercial rents.

Don McLure, Durham County Council’s corporate director of resources, said: “The council incurs no additional costs in the use of bailiffs and they are only used as a last resort.

“We much prefer that people contact us so we can discuss the issues they are facing.

“We therefore always encourage council tax payers in financial difficulties to make early contact with us in order to make payment arrangements and to ensure they are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to.”

However Newcastle City Council questioned the accuracy of the figures.

A council spokesman said: “Over the last two years our use of bailiffs has changed very little so we do not recognise at all this 36% increase.

“The council has a statutory responsibility to collect council tax, business rates and unpaid parking fines – the proceeds of which we use to fund vital public services.

“In all cases, we use bailiffs as a last resort and go to great lengths to avoid using them.

“Last year we set up our own in-house enforcement team to help people in genuine difficulties make smaller payments on council tax arrears before instructing bailiffs.

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“We pride ourselves on helping people who are struggling with debts - but make no apologies for recovering debts from people and businesses who can pay their debts but willfully refuse to do so. We have a duty to do this on behalf of the tax payer.”

Elsewhere in the region, while there was no figure for Sunderland, local authorities in Northumberland, South Tyneside and North Tyneside all showed a fall in the use of debt collectors.

The Money Advice Trust which carried out the research said councils in England and Wales instructed bailiffs or “enforcement agents” to collect debts on 2.1m occasions last year, compared to 1.8m the year before - an increase of 16%.

Council tax debts were by far the biggest problem, with enforcement agents called out on 1.27m occasions to collect on such arrears. Parking related debt was the other major contributor, triggering 715,000 call-outs.

Joanna Elson OBE, chief executive of the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline, said: “On the front line of debt advice we know that sending the bailiffs in can deepen debt problems, rather than solve them - and it can also have a severe impact on the wellbeing of people who are often already in a vulnerable situation.

“Bailiff action is not only harmful to those in arrears - it is also a poor deal for the council taxpayer.

“Our research shows that those local authorities that use bailiffs the most are actually less successful, on average, at collecting council tax arrears. This is a lose-lose situation.”